Grant: Project Grant

Antenatal corticosteroids are medications given to pregnant women who are at risk for preterm labour to help their babies' lungs develop faster. The medication is known to lower the chances of newborn death or serious breathing complications at birth. However, there are growing concerns that this effective medication may also harm children's longer-term brain development, and doctors are becoming reluctant to use the medication without a better understanding of its long-term safety. Our study will establish if antenatal corticosteroids have harmful consequences for child brain development, such as lower kindergarten assessment scores, cerebral palsy, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. We will link the medical records of over 12,000 preterm births in British Columbia, Canada, 2000-2013, to standardized provincial kindergarten test results, doctors' visits, and medication prescriptions. We will compare the health outcomes of infants born immediately before and immediately after the gestational age that antenatal corticosteroids are recommended (up to 34 weeks of pregnancy, but not after). These babies, born as little as hours apart but with a very different chance of receiving corticosteroids, will help us to isolate the effects of the medication on child health from other potential causes of poor brain development. The results from this research will help to ensure that women and their doctors are able to make fully informed decisions on use of this effective medication to balance both short and longer-term child health.